Cherry & Almond Cake

This is such a simple cake to make. (The trickiest bit is trying to de-stone those darned cherries…) It taste’s delicious and stays light and fluffy for days. I know this for a fact as the cake in the photo survived a trip to Wales and a tour of the Brecon Beacons before being devoured by a wearily-legged party of friends.

(Climbing Pen-Y-Fan in the pouring rain before cake consumption is optional.)

Recipe (serves 8)

Ingredients

200g butter (softened)

220g caster sugar

220g self-raising flour

50g ground almonds

150g fresh cherries (de-stoned weight)

75g glacé cherries

1 tsp baking powder

4 large eggs

1tsp almond essence

2 tsp vanilla extract

5 tbsp cherry jam (optional)

a handful of flaked almonds

Method

Grease and line a small cake tin (I used a 23cm tin) and preheat the oven at 180c or 160c fan.

Halve the cherries and toss in 2 tbsp of the flour. This will help prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cake.

Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

Slowly add the eggs, one at a time, until well incorporated. Then, add the almond and vanilla.

Fold in the flour, ground almonds and baking powder. Then gently fold in the cherries.

Fold in the cherries and pour into the prepared tin. You can add a few dollops of morello cherry jam here if you like… Scatter with the flaked almonds. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Leave to cool and dust with icing sugar if you wish.